53.

Kiralj R., Ferreira M. M. C., “Chemometric and Molecular Modeling Study of 1H-Indol-3-acetid Acid Derivatives with Auxin Activity”. Mariehamn, Åland Islands, Finland, 14-18/06/2003: 8th Scandinavian Symposium on Chemometrics (SSC8). Book of Abstracts, P16 (2003). Poster P16.



                                                                           P16
 

 Chemometric and Molecular Modeling Study of 1H-Indole-3-acetic Acid Derivatives with
                                                          Auxin Activity

                                          Rudolf Kiralj and Márcia M. C. Ferreira

    Instituto de Química, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas SP, 13083-970, Brazil
 

1H-Indole-3-acetic acid  (IAA)  and  its derivatives are  among  the  most  important  plant-growth
regulation hormones. Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) study on auxins are not
straitforward, mainly due to the lack of 3D structure of auxin binding protein (ABP) which has been
determined  just  recently,   and  intrinsic  auxin   properties.    The  skeleton  of   IAA  consists  of
heteroaromatic, planar indole ring, and the acetate group which can adopt a few distinct orientations
with  respect  to  the  ring.  IAA  auxins  are  limited  to  derivatives  with  small  substituents  at  five
substitution  positions  at  the  indole  ring.
This  work  deals  with  over  twenty  IAA  auxins,   half  of  which  has  measured  straight-growth
promoting activities on  Avena Sativa L. coleoptiles1:  the optimal coleoptile elongation L,  and the
half-optimum concentration c, both relative to IAA.  Molecular geometries for all compounds were
optimized at ab initio B3LYP 6-31G** level, and topological, electrotopological, steric, electronic
and  lipophilicity molecular descriptors  were calculated.  Selected  descriptors  were  analyzed  by
means of  Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and  Principal Component Analysis (PCA).  Partial
Least Squares  (PLS)  regression  models were built and validated based on these descriptors,  for
estimation  of  the  biological  activities  log and  logc.   ABP – auxin  complexes  for  all  studied
molecules  were  built  from   ABP – 1-naphthalenic  acid  complex  crystal  structure2,   and  their
geometries  optimized  by  using  molecular  mechanics  MMFF94  force  field.
Five  descriptors  were  sufficient   for  QSAR  analysis  of  activity  logL:   lipophilicity  descriptor
(logKOW), molar Gibbs free energy of formation, a radial distribution function descriptor, molecular
electrostatic variation, and a Broto-Moreau autocorrelation descriptor. The PLS model (Q2 = 0.73,
R2 > 0.87) with four principal components predicted well activities of non-halogenated compounds.
Plant-growth  activity  log showed  to be related only to three  descriptors  in  non-linear form:  a
Randic molecular profile,  a  3D-MORSE  descriptor  and  another radial distribution function.  The
PLS  model  (Q2 = 0.91, R2 = 0.95)  based  on  only  one  PC could predict the activities even  for
halogenated compounds. HCA and PCA  analyses showed the clustering of the auxins into  classes
with different activities.  QSAR,  HCA  and  PCA  results  are  interpretable  in  terms  of molecular
graphics  and  modeling  of  ABP – auxin  complexes.
 

1 Nigovic, B.; Antolic, S.; Kojic-Prodic, B.; Kiralj, R.; Magnus, V.; Salopek-Sondi, B. Acta Cryst.,
2000, B56, 94-111.
2 Woo,  E.-J.;  Marshall, J.;  Bauly, J.;  Chen,  J.-G.; Venis, M.;  Napier, R. M.;  Pickersgill,  R. W.
EMBO J., 2002, 21, 2877-85.
 

Acknowledgement: The authors acknowledge FAPESP for support.